Arab countries are formulating a plan to rehabilitate Gaza without displacing its population, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Friday, in remarks contrary to U.S. President Donald Trump’s call to relocate Gazans to other states in the region.
Ayman Safadi said that his country “cannot afford” any more “Palestinians” as refugees already comprise 35% of its population, according to Reuters. It’s estimated that between 70% to 80% of Jordanians identify as “Palestinian”.
“They don’t want to come to Jordan and we don’t want them to come to Jordan,” he stressed at the annual Munich Security Conference.
“We are working on an Arab proposal that will show that we can rebuild Gaza without displacing its people, that we can have a plan that will guarantee security and governance,” Safadi said.
“Israelis also have to think long-term,” he continued. “For it to live in peace and security, its neighbors need to live in peace and security.”
Last week, Jordan’s King Abdullah II traveled to Washington where he announced his country was willing to take in 2,000 severely ill Gazan children and their families. That could amount to a mere 10,000 to 12,000 people.
However, the king did not embrace Trump’s plan, saying that he and other Arab leaders would meet in Saudi Arabia soon to discuss an Egyptian counterproposal to the Trump resettlement and redevelopment idea.
The Hashemite monarch informed Trump that the Arab plan would be “cheaper and faster” than the president’s proposal, a proposition the American leader apparently did not dismiss, Reuters cited two Europeans with knowledge of the meeting as saying.
The plan-in-the-works is reportedly spearheaded by Riyadh, which will host a summit on Feb. 20 with Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo a week later on the same issue, France 24 reported.
A source speaking on condition of anonymity said that Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas would also attend the summit in Saudi Arabia.
Safadi further warned that while the world was focused on Gaza, hostilities could erupt in Judea and Samaria.
Judea and Samaria “is a powder keg that could explode,” he said.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the Arab League, last week rejected Trump’s plan to resettle Gazan, claiming that Arabs in Judea and Samaria would also eventually be moved (Inshallah).
“The focus today is on Gaza and tomorrow it will shift to the West Bank with the objective of emptying Palestine of its historical inhabitants,” Aboul Gheit said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
“It’s unacceptable for the Arab world, which has fought this idea for 100 years,” he added.
“After resisting this for 100 years, we Arabs are not about to capitulate in any way now, because we have not suffered a political, military or cultural defeat,” Aboul Gheit said.
